This invention is in the field of the manufacture of alcoholic spirits. It is directed towards a process for the acceleration of the ripening or aging process through the use of ultrasonic treatments.
The conventional procedure for ripening (aging) of spirits derived from grapes or grain has been storage over extended periods, in oak casks or metal tanks with oak inserts, of the distillates. This natural aging process is associated with substantial space requirements, and requires from many months to years to come to fruition.
There are known methods for the acceleration of this natural aging process. One type of procedure involves treatment of the distillates with gases such as ozone, oxygen, nitrogen and mixtures thereof, often with simultaneous UV-treatments. Short periods of treatment in ball mills and heat treatments with electrical current have also been employed to accelerate the aging process.
Ultrasonic treatment of the distillates in the presence of taste-improving additives is also a known procedure. Two patents describe this type of process, namely DD-PS No. 119,614 "Process for Quick-ripening of Spirits" and CH-PS "Ultrasonic Treatments in Casks". In both of these patents, ultrasonic treatment is used to accelerate both the chemical reaction involved with aging process and the extraction of bouquet-improving components from additives (e.g. wood). The disadvantage of the known processes lies in their lack of reproducible quality parameters, as the important technical aspects have not been isolated and controlled.